What’s up fam,
I’m back in Chengdu and finally coming back to earth following my Kaishandao tour of Japan and the big Kiwese China tour with Night Lunch. Not to mention the shenanigans of Chun You Festival and so on… Grateful for the experiences and connections on this mega trip. Still processing the lore and more. Ankle is busted, heart is full.
Earlier this year, I did a talk about DIY Touring in China at Tonic in Wellington. It was attended by a small, curious audience and I felt really good about how it went.
Now I am sharing the talk online!
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
In Part One, I talk about:
– my background and how I got into music
– growing up in Wellington
– my work as Kiwese
– my work as Kaishandao
– my work with Chengdu Community Radio (http://cdcr.live) and Chun You Festival
PART 2: HOW TO RUN A DIY TOUR IN CHINA
Here is the meat and potatoes of the talk, where I discuss the Who, What, Where, Why, How of running a DIY tour for bands and independent artists in China.
– WHY: ensuring your goals are aligned
– WHERE: types of venues, overview of map and routing
– WHO: essential people and roles
– WHEN: timeline and calendar dates
– HOW: logistics, internet, networks, permits, visas
I also discuss issues and challenges related to:
– LGBTQIA+ in China
– Censorship and internet
The whole talk is rounded out with a Q&A and reflections from Kiwese alumni including RIZZO, sound engineer for the 2024 BIRDPARTY x Vera Ellen tour, and Will Barrett, drummer of BIRDPARTY.
Definitely felt very positive and aligned doing this talk! Cogs were firing.
I wrote: “I’ve gone full zen blast,” in my journal afterwards, lol.
In the past, I’ve attended ‘music forum’ type talk things – featured in a panel with other guests on stage answering stock standard questions… and those events had me feeling anxious and imposter syndrome-ey as. Bleugh.
This Tonic Talk was different. Fully self-organised with the Tonic crew Ludus and Rizzo. On my bullshit in a safe space, mostly improvised, with a basic PowerPoint as a prompt. Audience was made up of friends and curious heads from around Wellington, who discovered the event through our socials. Mic on a sword.
Great korero and questions all round, definitely look forward to doing more talks like this in future. Talks are a nice way to wind back, open the throat chakras and share knowledge.
The video edit was also really fun to make, drawing on archival material from previous tours and working on making the talk as clearly communicated as possible.
Big ups to Dan Harris for filming, my sister Stefanie Ng for mastering the audio, and Debster for Chinese subtitle jhoojing!
Thanks for watching!
KIWESE 